Rochester athletic teams play some of the strongest schedules in the nation. The 2021 season is no different. All seven will face programs that are ranked in pre-season polls, offering the best challenges after a year away due to the pandemic.
 
The first team to compete in the fall will be the women's soccer team. The Yellowjackets will host 23^rd-ranked SUNY Geneseo at Edwin Fauver Stadium on Wednesday at 4 pm. At 7 pm, the Yellowjacket men's team takes on SUNY Cortland in the Stadium.
 
If volleyball is your sport, the Yellowjackets will host Elmira College at 6 pm in the Palestra on Wednesday. Volleyball will also host its own tournament on Friday and Saturday. Matches will be held in the Palestra and Court A in the Goergen Athletic Center. Friday's tip times at 5 pm and 7 pm on each court. Saturday action will go at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm on the same courts.
 
Cap off the first week of action by watching the Yellowjacket football team at 7 pm Saturday in Fauver Stadium. Rochester has a roster of 95 players representing 20 states. Two years ago, the same two teams met and attracted the largest home crowd in the previous 11 years (3,131).
 
Both cross country teams and field hockey play locally this week. Cross country will compete in the St. John Fisher Terry Bodenbeck Invitational on Friday evening (first race 6 pm). Field hockey plays at Nazareth College at 5 pm on September 1.